In this Issue: From the Editor ...... 1

MTB News ...... 2 2021 -

Ride Reports ...... 3 -6 8 Academy Profile #1 ...... 6 0 Tour Tales & Pilates...... 7 Ride Roundup ...... 8

#TeamWork Cycling is nothing if not an eventful sport, and this weekend’s rides were definitely NOT incident-free. There were falls and scares from more than one group. However, it’s also clear that for many of the groups, there were some very enjoyable hours spent in the saddle. Without wanting to share the details across the Club, it is perhaps most pertinent to highlight the positives, and emphasise the “take home” messages from these… • Everyone lived to tell the tale! • Even the strongest and best riders make bad judgement calls. • No one is indestructible. • We all encounter obstacles and routes that challenge us. CLUB MEMBERSHIP 2021 • And most of all, at some point, we will all need the team – so keep your group members close. Time is running out! To those who were injured in one way or another Only 91 of our BW members having renewed – we wish you a rapid and full recovery, and hope their Club membership so far to see you back on your bikes soon! You have until the end of March 2021 for this – February is nearly over, and we have had very but please do it as soon as possible! few entries for our Photo Competition. Please Membership forms can be downloaded from don’t forget to send in photos that depict the the club website. theme “Loving My Bike…” We will announce our Please use a meaningful reference when y… B winner in the first issue of March. Entries close on making payments by EFT or into the Club Sunday 28 Feb and must be emailed in jpg account (NAME and WHAT YOU ARE PAYING formats to [email protected] with Feb FOR, e.g. UPFOLD SUBS, or WILSON KIT, etc), Photo Competition in your subject line. A special thanks to Mark, Bobby, Rich, Dale and Email proof of payment to club secretary, owered

Chris for this week’s articles. Moira Sherwood ([email protected]). P Stay safe and sane - Mustang

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Richard Krusekopf Ride Reports: Another perfect Saturday for riding. The A/B’s undertook an adventurous Midlands Meander with a few battle wounds to prove it. The C’s toured through Cedara guided by Mark, while the D’s did a similar ride lead by Andy, clocking up 29km and 610m of climbing. The newly established F’s meandered through Grace and Cedara again under Gordon’s capable hand. Remember to use lights whenever riding on public roads. Give motorists every chance to avoid you.

Hilton Time Trial February TT Results: Week 2 Timber Harvesting: The Supa Quick time trial has been in full swing since Harvesting of timber continues in the Cedara January and is continuing through February, with the plantations (Thekwani Timbers) in November through to trails are bedding in really well February. A number of our regular trails have been so this is the time to make the closed. Timber harvesting is also taking place in the most of them. Give the 8km or Cascades plantations with certain trails closed 18km a go and stand a chance Harvesting operations are also taking place in to win the Supa Quick monthly Karkloof. Please respect their trail and road closures give away or even the Nino’s during this period. Keep a safe distance from these weekly lucky draw prizes. operations. This week’s lucky draw winner of a Nino’s breakfast and coffee is Brett Fourie. Congratulations Brett. Contact me for your Nino’s voucher.

Club Rides: The Wednesday rides leave from X-ways at 15:30. This Saturday the C, D and F groups will be riding from Hilton Quarry Centre at 6:30. These group rides are also communicated on WhatsApp. Gordon Borain has kindly offered to initiate an F group with the intention of riding a little slower and doing around 20km. If this is for you, please join him on Saturday at the Quarry Centre parking lot – the usual place. The D group needs additional leaders to help out on Saturday mornings. If you are a regular D group rider, your help will be appreciated. Further details will be found on relevant WhatsApp chats. Contact me if you would like to be added to the MTB groups.

BURG TALK | 08-20210 been told before that the road down to the rotunda used to be the main drag out of town, but its only now Mark Rowland that the verges have been cleared, that the history is Never a dull moment in the Spiderbite household of obvious. Have a look. I was being cautious with the late. Things were going so well. Ali hadn’t developed route choice, just in case by body turned out not to any new superpowers, the power stayed on, and my new agree with my assessment of our combined fitness. We laptop made it through the first week without showing chugged up Heartbreak Hill, where I confirmed what I me the Blue Screen of Death. And then it happened. On had heard the previous week, which was that our own Wednesday, I woke having been infected with some Chest-hair Chris was in fact a published author. to nasty lurgi. To be safe, SpiderWoman bundled me into have intellectuals with us, it raises the whole tone of the the car, and took me to Collegians where a very pleasant ride. Heartbreak Hill didn’t seem to faze any of the lady in a large white bin bag put an XXL sandpaper- newbies, and one by one they came past Chris and I in coated toothpick up my nose. She then twirled the pursuit of Pierre and Sholto. Props to both Chris and toothpick vigorously in each nostril, all the while Sholto, who have improved dramatically this year. Time reassuring me that it wouldn’t hurt her a bit. She was for some handicapping, methinks. right. Me, not so We regrouped at the much. It was the top gate, which was oddest sensation open for the first time and didn’t improve since I’ve been riding my day at all. I here. Gentleman Grant retired hurt. The swept selflessly, hence sandpaper people the name. Left along then added insult the Birnam Wood road, to injury by eventually intersecting sending me an with the singletrack SMS later to say leading down to the that I had been river. This week we found to be had a large contingent negative. Ali said of riders from behind they hadn’t seen the Boerewors the half of it. Curtain. It was unusual By Thursday I was to hear so much speaking in whole Afrikaans being spoken sentences this far East, and made again. By Friday I was in dire need of getting out of the me feel all cosmopolitan. Nice thing about having house. Gert and Gordon had kindly agreed to guide the Double Dave with us is that he regularly rides the place D’s and F’s respectively, so it was game on. flat, and generally knows what is currently good to ride There was a good turnout for all groups, even the and what isn’t. He declared the route safe, and we C’s. Daan brought his other son to ride with us [we crossed the river safely, working our way up to the appear to have passed some test] making it Dik Daan entrance of Pack of Dogs. I followed Double Dave into and Lang Daan, their friend Rampies [aka Jaco], the singletrack, after the hotshots. Ali, Dave and I were DisaPierre, Gentleman Grant, the Kruppenfuhrer, delighted to catch Hannes quite quickly, and he was newbies Hannes & Jared, Sholto, Chris G, Ingrid G, courteous enough to let us by, confirming the benefits Marian, the return of Andrew Thurtell, and a guest of age and cunning. Lang Daan, with the exuberance of appearance of Double Dave [Davie], recovering from the [relative] youth, chose to risk the rocks, but his Dad’s accursed virus. vintage fiets disagreed with the choice, breaking the I herded the other groups away from the mighty C’s, chain to make its point clear. Those behind stopped to and we then set off for the rainbow bridge, forgetting help, but it soon became clear that this would not be a to turn on my Garmin in all the neutral zone quick fix. They encouraged us to continue without excitement. The rainbow bridge route took us to the them, which we did, just as the D’s arrived behind new school construction site near the N3, which seems us. We left His Magnificence the Kruppenfuhrer to help to be mainly flat by now. Here we turned left, to head the CC’s find their way home. into Cedara, where I finally started the Garmin. I have

BURG TALK | 08-20210 Double Dave led us through Omar’s [bedding in nicely, please ride] and then up Naartjie hill, at the top of which we turned right. This is a long, steady and pleasant Bex van der Linde climb, with recommended views to Midmar and Three tumbles on around the dam trundles! beyond. The puddles have mostly dried along the top [shower] road, creating a few places where there are large holes where once were puddles. I hit one of these at speed, giving me very big eyes for a hundred meters or so. Those behind me did the same, leading to some harsh and vocal leadership criticism, which I shrugged off. No room for snowflakes here in the Mighty C’s. Pierre and I chased each other down past the Rasta Tabernacle, taking care with the three epic sleeping policemen that the forestry guys have created. Cue more squawking the less observant behind us. Right at the bottom, and along the contour road taking whatever singletrack was available. Double Dave showed us a new option, which we will be using again. Down along the back of the nursery, where we didn’t lose Marian. Being outed as an author seems to have calmed Chris down, and he remained covered. So gravel riding is that perfect mix between the MTB From here it was all downhill to the vlei, where we countryside fix and the roadies ‘open roads’ and caught the D’s. We leapfrogged them by going around freedom (without stressing about potholes and traffic!). the vlei instead of through it, and then wrapped it all up This should make it the safest option. Well, we proved with Dunton’s Demise. 100% of the C’s group got that wrong on Saturday as our group of ten set off from through the Demise feet up - first time ever. Cause for CoffeeBox (or Crossways) on another glorious summer’s celebration then – straight to Nino’s. The morning. Hilton was typically misty but by the time we’d Kruppenfuhrer and his splinter group arrived just after rolled through Cedara and out onto the Birnham Wood us, having converted Daan’s vintage fiets to single- road, the sun was starting to burn through. As is the speed, and still had a good ride. Ali received her Nino’s nature of accidents, they happen when one least expects voucher, and blew it immediately on a social bean it… One minute the group was happily trundling down breakfast. Lang Daan kept us all amused with stories of the road and the next moment, Tony was lying in a growing up as one of Daan’s kids. Lets do it all again crumpled heap. The road was rutted with tyre treads next week, without the lurgi. gouged out in the (now dried) mud and in the blink of Garmin Stats: 33km, 2h10 riding time, 15,1km/h a moment, Tony lost control as he tried to pull out from average, 627m ascent, 16-24 degrees. the rutted groove – falling against Gavin (who somehow managed to stay upright) but he went down hard. Fortunately, no broken bones – but some nasty roasties down his leg and arm and a bruised eye. Fortunately too (two), we had Alberto and Landy in the group with us so Tony was in good hands! And fortunately three – Bex’s niece lives on the Birnam Wood road so was able to Gordon Borain shoot back, borrow her car and get Tony to his son in Hilton fairly quickly. He was ok but quite shaken and Dee, Mari, Tom, David, obviously sore. Colleen and Gordon So, forty-five minutes later the rest of the group covered 20.7km in 2h continued on their way around the back of Midmar and 24m in the Grace up past Hanbury’s – taking the lower road / route College arena. Total option. Seeing as the scribe was not present here climb 340m. (returning the car) the story goes that the route became a little ill-defined and some ‘bush-whacking’ ensued. None other than the route master, JP, took a tumble from (he claims) going too slowly down the grassy

BURG TALK | 08-20210 hillside and landed hard on his side resulting in a nice lost 1,7kg and that was after drinking nearly two bottles bruise. of water. One cannot emphasise the importance of As the group turned for home on the Petrus Stroom staying hydrated on these longer rides. Thanks TT for road, taking a divert into Midmar, Clive went down (on keeping everyone safe and under control. yet another grassy, over-grown, rutted road) – hurting Distance: 143,8km, Ave Speed: 28,1 km/h, Elev Gain: his knee quite badly. Bex re-joined the group in Midmar 1 753 m, Time: 5:06:48 and from there it was an uneventful (thank goodness) trip back to Hilton via Merrivale back-roads. Milkshakes were definitely in order at Station Stop. The ride stats Dale Southern were (roughly, depending on start point): 85km, 1600m Recommended heart rate zones for the ride ascent, 5hrs). Below are my heart rate zones for our ride on Saturday. Our best wishes to Tony for a speedy recovery and we Zone 5 7s 1.66% Recommended 5-10% hope to see you back on the road soon. Zone 4 31m 7.38% Recommended 15% Zone 3 2.44hr/m 57.83% Recommended 5-15% Zone 2 1.19hr/m 28.23% Recommended 50-60% Zone 1 21m 4.90% Recommended 20-30% Total Moving Time 4.22hr 102.73km Avg Speed 20.7km/hr Bobby Nefdt Please read the article in last week’s Burg Talk it makes a lot of Saturday sense. morning was Clearly if we incorporate science into our training another glorious rides, I should have spent more time in zone 5, more morning with time in zone 4, less time in zone 3, most of my time in temperatures zone 2 and more time in zone 1. On a group ride that is looking to rise into very hard, as our heart rates are all different. That’s why the lower 30s. 12 you have a group leader (GL); his or her job is to get the of us left the Eye group from point A to point B and back safely. Also to Hospital and took control the pace, and without the discipline it’s very hard an easy ride up the and frustrating, even the whistle doesn’t help! hill to Hilton The problem is that you have different strengths in where five others joined us. It was good to see a couple the group - STRONG, MEDIUM, and SLOW - the of new faces in the group. tendency is for the strong riders to ride away from the Welcome to new BW rider, Hilton Brown. It was it was medium and slower riders in the group, instead of the always going to be an interesting ride especially when stronger riders riding in a harder gear to keep their work Craig M tried unsuccessfully to persuade the group to rate up and to encourage, support and help the slower make it a Zone 2 ride - it was like “trying to keep a wave riders. Had I not dropped back to help the slower ones, upon the sand.” The pace was fairly steady up towards my mix of the above heart rates would have been much Notts with TT resorting to issuing a few ‘Yellow Cards’ closer to what is recommended. along the way. As we passed Gowrie Park in Notts Con Saturday was a good example of the fact that we pointed out the new home he and Sue were in the continually had breakaway groups, leaving big gaps process of purchasing. I can't imagine Con retiring up at between the fast and slow. Two things then result, the Nottingham Road with all his energy. slower riders try harder to catch the faster riders and The heat took its toll on the way back as the burn themselves out quicker, and then slow the group temperatures rose into the lower 30s with a few down more. The second is that the backup vehicle then cramping on the way. We tried some pace-lining on the stops serving its purpose, which is to create an way but that wasn't too successful. Trevor again had to awareness that there are cyclists ahead so be careful, issue a few more yellow cards, even threatening a red and to assist with a mechanical or any other mishap - it card! Congratulations to Jeff J whose Strava indicated then only protects the riders in front of the vehicle. that it was his longest ride in a very long time - Jeff was Saturday’s C group ride was to Noodsberg Country looking quite strong on the way back. Club via Wartburg, from the eye hospital - thanks to Dr I noticed the increase in traffic, particularly along the Enslin Uys from the eye hospital, it was a safe place to section from Michaelhouse to the N3 – a result of leave our cars. We left as 5am with 12 in the group, it school’s reopening?? I tried a little experiment before I was good having 4 B group riders in the C group: Jill, rode by weighing myself before and after the ride – I Charles, Suben and Brendan. We made our way through

BURG TALK | 08-20210 town up Table Mountain Hill and all the hills to Sweetwaters, over the top to Hilton College and back Wartburg, plus all the hills to Noodsberg where we had down Old Howick Road, about 45km starting at 5am. a food & drink stop. At this stage it was starting to get Ride safe, stay alert and stay alive. very hot, and on the way back we reached temperatures of 36 degrees, so it was a slow grind to Wartburg. Returning home, just outside Wartburg down the first hill, Jan had an unfortunate accident after hitting a bump, lost control of her bike and went down very hard. Chris de Witt Five of us had a nice ride – from Greendale Spar at 5am – Howick – Via Tweedie, Tweedie offramp towards Midmar dam wall – through back end of Merrivale west and then turned back towards Howick and proceeded to end of tar on the Karkloof road then back to Greendale Spar. We had a nice short ride of about 60km and 900m of climbing that took us 3 hours with an average of 20km an hour. Weather was good and we managed to finish before it got too hot. We have got some regular E-bike riders joining us often now and we all have lots of fun.

After making sure her neck and back were ok, we moved her to the side of the road as she come down in the middle of the road, and there was a lot of traffic. Using the first aid kit from the backup vehicle, we patched Jan up as best we could, got her safely into the backup vehicle with her bike on the bike rack and set off again in the heat. Never underestimate the importance of a backup vehicle. I do have a concern, looking at the breakaway group (!!!) in front of us from about a 100 metres away, that Mountain Biker they were in my opinion going too fast and it only takes one bump to bring a rider down. We need to be more Name: Omar Wilson responsible when going down a hill too fast. You don’t Nickname: Ohmz, Rusks, get fit screaming down a hill, sadly it’s an accident Biscuit looking for a place to happen. All went well from there, Age: 15 years old\ About me: In Grade 9 at except for the heat sapping our energy, and we all made Maritzburg College. it back safely, especially well done to Moira. A big thank you to Melanie for doing backup and I love all forms of mountain biking – XCO. Marathon, Enduro, getting Jan to Mediclinic for a checkup and x-rays, she Downhill. I also really enjoy playing water polo at College. had a bad haematoma on her right thigh and lots of Cycling Aspirations: Hope to ride at MTB XCO gravel rash, but thankfully no fractures. Jan is making World Champs one day! good progress, she is a tough lady and will be back on her bike soon. A very big thank you to Jordyn (aka Career Aspirations: Not sure what I want to be yet – Prodigal) for all his help in getting Jan and her car and but a famous cyclist would be good 😊😊 bike home to Howick - what a great spirit we have in our Engineering appeals, but am club. waiting for the Grade 9 Career All in all a great ride and experience. Well done to Information evening to get more all who made it, I hope to do the 109km Cape Town City ideas Tour virtual ride on 13 March as a group. Saturday 27th we will ride from CB to Francis Staniland Road, to Town Bush, into town, up

BURG TALK | 08-20210 entire Tour. Although he only won one stage, he finished in the top five in every other Stories from ‘Viva le Tour’ by Nick Brownlee stage. In the 14th stage to Dunkerque, Thys' bicycle broke. Snippet #9 He was not allowed to get help 1913 : Winner declared on time. to fix his bicycle, but Thys 29 Jun-27 July 1913, No. of stages: 15, Dist: 5 287 km decided to take the risk of a Winner’s average speed 27,7km/h time penalty, and bought a new The idea of support cars carrying replacement bicycles wheel at a shop. This cost him a was unheard of in the early days of the Tour. In fact, 30-minute penalty, which left riders faced severe time penalties if they were caught Thys only 1:50 ahead of Henri receiving any help at all to affect mechanical repairs. It Philippe Thys –winner in Pélissier, who eventually 1913 and 1914 was this typically draconian rule that led to an incident finished second. which has gone down in Tour legend. While descending the at high speed, Eugène Christophe's was hit by a race vehicle causing his front folks to snap. Remarkably, he was unscathed. Even more remarkably, Christophe - aware that he was the race Ride24 Reuben van Niekerk leader on the on the road - slung his back over his shoulder, grabbed the remains of the forks, and set off • Getting better at riding bikes is not only about on foot to the nearest village 10 km further down the riding bikes mountain. The village was St Marie de Campan, and • Long periods of time behind bars could cause right in the middle of it was a blacksmith. Stoking up the imbalances in the body forge, Christophe set about repairing his forks. As he did • Pilates is proven to be beneficial for cyclists in so, an eagle-eyed Tour official looked on to ensure that a number of ways no rules were broken. When Christophe asked a local youngster to work the bellows, he was informed by the Apart official that he had been docked 10 minutes - on top of from our the four hours he had already lost since the crash. Such legs feeling was the outcry over the decision, the time penalty was tired, our eventually reduced to three minutes. By then, though, backs, Christophe was already well out of the reckoning. hands and Towards the end of his life, Christophe returned to St arms often Marie de Campan to watch the unveiling of a take strain commemorative plaque on the site of the former smithy. after a long To add insult to injury, the Tour organisers spelled his ride. name wrong. The eventual winner of the race was Philippe Thys of Belguim. A number of professional world champion cyclists 1914 Tour de France: The last Tour for five years. use pilates and core training exercises as integral parts 29 June-26 ; No. of stages: 15; Dist: 5 380km of their training regimes to give them the strength and Ave speed: 26,8km/h power they need when competing. Pilates helps improve stability, and makes you ride At 03:00 on the morning of 28 June 1914 and , more efficiently. Being stable also means you can ride Henry Desgrange fired the starting pistol to begin the faster and safer. 11th Tour de France. A few hours later, in Sarajevo, a Pilates has real benefits that can improve your Serbian nationalist called Gavrilo Princip fired the shots cycling performance both by increasing power and that killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife helping you stay injury free! Sophie, an act which precipitated World War One. The Get the full story from three men who won the Tour from 1907-1910 would die https://www.news24.com/ride24/skillsandtips/how- in the war. Belgian Philippe Thys was dominant in the pilates-can-benefit-your-cycling-20210205

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Cape Town Cycle Tour Goes Virtual The Virtual Cape Town Cycle Tour, will utilize the FulGaz Virtual Cycling platform, and will take place between March 8-14. The race will be divided into three stages to make up the traditional 109km route. Filmed on the actual route from a bicycle it is the ideal way to experience the beauty of the Cape Peninsula from the comfort of your own home! To take part simply enter online from Monday, 8 February at www.capetowncycletour.com and ride 109km or more during the month of March ANYWHERE ANYTIME. We will use Strava to verify all qualifying rides completed. Each participant will get a virtual medal on completion of the challenge, while also and perhaps most importantly, helping raise funds for the Cape Town Cycle Tour Trust.

This is a festival of Classic cycling. We are launching our monthly Ride on classic steel road bikes on gravel roads like the Club Photo Competition again, heroes of the past did. with a theme for each month. Experience the fun and camaraderie of riding with other Photos can be sent as jpg files by classic bicycle enthusiasts while taking in the beautiful email to [email protected]. scenery of the Kamberg in the Natal Midlands. By submitting a photo, you automatically give the A classic bicycle display will be held on the Saturday Club permission to publish it on our media platforms. evening along with a Concourse competition for the best Entry is to paid up members only and you can submit classic bicycle. up to 5 photo entries per month. More at February’s theme being the month of romance is https://classicsteelandvintage.co.za/product/gravel-giro- glengarry-2021-classic-bike-ride-and-festival/ “Loving my bike…”. Deadline for entries for February is Sunday 28 Feb.

NEWSFLASH:

Maluti Double 90 postponed to September – exact dates to be confirmed!

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